


Tea Always Helps

by alexcat



Series: After the World Ends [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 22:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14657235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Tony and Bruce visit the Sanctum.





	Tea Always Helps

**Author's Note:**

> In a departure from Movie canon, I had Tony and Strange meet before.

Steve woke suddenly. He couldn’t breathe! Thanos was choking the life out of him. And Bucky called to him, “Hey, Steve!” And then he was gone. 

He choked back the scream that was forming as he jerked upright in the bed. 

Tony was looking him, wide awake. He didn’t say anything, just pulled Steve into his arms and held him until his even breathing told Tony that he was asleep again. 

*

In the coming days, several more people straggled into the facility. Clint called in, but his wife was gone and he wasn’t coming back for a while, if ever. He had children to raise. No one had heard anything from Fury or Maria Hill, but they got word that their vehicle was found along with an old style pager that had belonged to Fury. It had been sending a signal somewhere. 

In the world outside the facility, half of the world’s population was gone. Both the President and Vice President of the US were gone. The country was talking of new elections already, instead of passing the wand to survivors. There was fighting in the streets in some cities already. No one knew if armed rebellion might break out.

Things were much the same abroad. Many world leaders were no longer in existence and some countries were quickly falling into chaos. 

There were no longer 7 billion people on the planet and no one seemed to know where to go from that. 

In Wakanda, that was not the case. Their shield was still up and Okoye and M’Baku had put Shuri on the throne quickly, giving her Black Panther powers to go with her title. No one had stepped forward to challenge her for the right to rule. All the tribes had remained unified and Wakanda seemed to be the only truly peaceful nation on earth right now. 

*

They all sat around the breakfast table but this was not a meal. It was a meeting of sorts.

“So is there anyone out there who can help us?” Nat asked Nebula.

“I have never been in the helping business. I do not know but as long as killing Thanos is the goal, I will help.”

Rocket spoke up. “There is a lot of power out there but most is for profit. And half of everyone else in the galaxy is gone, too.”

“So where do we start?” Thor asked.

“The Sanctum Santorum. We need to find out if Wong is still there.” Tony spoke up. “It’s where Strange was… it’s the New York Sanctum. The keepers of magic work out of the sanctums,” Tony said.

“How do you know these things?” Bruce asked him, surprised. 

“I met Strange a long time ago, before he was … a magic wielder. He called me not too long back and I went to the Sanctum. He told me what he was and what he did, what all the Sanctums do. They are our counterparts, but they deal in magic, not science. There were three of them but the London one is gone. The one in Hong Kong still stands, thanks to Strange. We need to contact Wong.” 

“I’ll go with you,” Bruce said. “I want to see this place again.”

“It’s an old house, mostly. A big, creepy one. You’ve been there before anyway.” 

“Well, I’m coming.” 

Thor spoke very quietly. “I shall stay here. Loki and most, if not all, of my people all perished.”

Steve froze, coffee cup halfway to his mouth. “What did you say?”

“They were on a ship. Thanos came with his Black Order. They killed everyone. I was rescued in space by Quill and the rabbit.”

Nat went to him, hugging him. He acted as if he’d told them what he had for dinner, but that didn’t deter Nat. People who couldn’t show emotion were certainly not alien to her. She’d spent most of her own life shut off from real emotion. “Perhaps you should call Jane.” 

He looked stoic still but when he answered, some of the bravado was gone from his voice. “I fear she is gone as well.”

“I’ll do it for you, if you want me to,” she said to him and kissed his cheek before she sat back down. 

That afternoon, Tony and Bruce rode into the city. 

Steve decided to go for a run. He wasn’t surprised when Nat caught up with him. 

“Is Tony all right?” She asked, not even breathing hard. 

“Are any of us?”

“No, but he seems…Not himself. He was all alone on that planet with the girl. He saw them all disappear, even the Parker boy. He’s shaken.” Then she asked, “Should I contact Jane for Thor?”

“Just don’t tell Thor if you can’t find her.”

“Steve, what the hell are we going to do?”

“We go on. We do what can.” After a moment, he added, “And we love one another.” 

“You’re a softie, Steve Rogers,” she punched him playfully on the shoulder and took off, leaving him behind. 

*

The Sanctum was located on Bleeker Street, an old mansion that had a rather sinister look about it. Tony and Bruce knocked. A young woman answered the door.

“Wong has been waiting for you. Follow me. Will you have tea?”

Bruce answered for them. “We’d be delighted.” 

She led them to an old fashioned drawing room with several wing chairs and a rocker or two around a small tea table. There was a fire in the fireplace and the room seemed to almost crackle with something Bruce couldn’t put a name to. Stephen Strange could have told him that it was magic. 

Wong came in and bowed to them as the young woman returned with a pot of tea and three cups. She poured as Bruce and Tony greeted Wong. 

“I suppose you know what happened to Dr. Strange?” Tony asked him.

Wong nodded. “When his cloak appeared, I knew.”

Tony looked surprised, even shocked. “The cloak is here?” 

“It is. It waits for his return,” Wong told them. 

“I saw him turn to dust and disappear. He’s gone.”

“Time and space are funny things, Mr. Stark. Things are seldom done with magic that cannot be undone somehow, especially when time is involved.”

“What do you mean?” Bruce leaned forward in his chair. He was intrigued with what Wong was saying.

“We see time as a linear thing, we humans, because in the natural order of our lives, it is. We move from minute to minute, from day to day, from year to year… in a straight line. Do you agree?” Wong looked at Tony and Bruce as if he were lecturing students. They nodded. 

“But time is not like that. Time can be manipulated, moved, reversed. The stone Dr. Strange wore focused the energy to do that, made it easier for a mortal person to do. What he did not tell you, Mr. Stark, is that time can still be manipulated without the stone.”

“You can do this?” Bruce asked. 

“Time was Dr. Strange’s specialty. I was but a librarian. But I too read all the books, all the scrolls. I know the spells and the incantations.”

“Are you telling us you can fix this?” Tony asked.

Wong shook his head. “No. I am telling you that it can be fixed, that it is possible. We are working on the how right now. Here and in Hong Kong, we work.”

“We need it done quickly,” Tony said. 

“No, Mr. Stark, you want it done quickly. Those who are gone, time will not pass for them. We must study, we must do this the proper way. Things done in haste often have unexpected consequences.” 

“Will you let us know when you have something?” Tony asked, a bit of irritation in his tone. Bruce picked it up and was sure that Wong did as well. 

“I will let you know when we need you,” was Wong’s answer. “Now drink your tea. It will help you. Tea always helps.”

After they drank their tea, Wong showed them around and when they came to the cabinet that housed Strange’s cloak, there it was. Tony could have sworn it waved at him as they walked by it. 

They took their leave of Wong. 

“Want to eat something while we’re here in the city?” Bruce asked. 

“Why not? Sushi?”

Banner laughed. “Burgers. The big guy favors burgers.”

“Are you looking to bring the big guy out?”

“You never know, Tony. These days, you just never know.”


End file.
